Monday, September 24, 2012

Raptor days (or how to get the timing right)

Yesterday I joined the raprot count in the north. I gave Eli a day off and coordinated the count instead of him. It was a very slow day. Personally I saw only a few hundred Levant Sparrowhawks and Lesser Spotted Eagles, but for most of the time migration was not heavier than a trickle.

This morning I joined Meidad for Sooty falcon monitoring. We scanned some fantastic wadis and had good falcon activity. More on this to follow soon.

When I returned to phone service area I learned from Eli that today was a big day. Eli and his team counted 20000 LSE's and 7000 levants today. On the way back home I managed to intercept the stream not far away from my house. It was very high up but I really enjoyed just watching them pass through without counting. In about 15 minutes I must have had 1000 eagles - not bad. Looking forward to some nice take-off tomorrow morning.